The reported departure of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won from the boardroom of the conglomerate’s holding company drew heated interest from the market on Thursday, with many viewing it as an effort to improve transparency in corporate governance. Some aggressive analysts also interpret the move as a prelude to more governance restructuring to raise SK Holdings’ stock value. According to local reports, Chey plans to leave the boardroom of SK Holdings and will have CEOs of other affiliates to do t

Industry Feb. 21, 2019

South Korea’s telecom-to-chip giant SK Group is close to taking the second spot from Hyundai Motor Group in the list of conglomerates by size of assets, a local corporate tracker suggested Wednesday, citing its large-scale investments. According to CEO Score, Samsung held 418.2 trillion won ($3.67 billion) in assets as of September last year, higher than the Korean government’s 2017 budget of 400.7 trillion won. It was the first time that the tech giant saw its assets surpass the 400 trillion wo

Industry Feb. 20, 2019

British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce opened a boutique showroom in Seoul on Wednesday -- its first anywhere in the world -- pledging to provide “ultimate quality control” for the luxury cars by complying with the amended Automobile Management Act, also known as South Korea’s “lemon law.”“It is our responsibility as a pinnacle luxury brand to reassure our South Korean customers that we would stand by our promise of ultimate quality, ultimate quality control, and of course attention to detail,” sai

Mobility Feb. 20, 2019

An annual scholarship program for aspiring artists by Han Sung Motor, the largest official dealer of Mercedes-Benz, was launched for its 8th year on Tuesday, with 15 new recipients. The Dream Gream is a corporate social responsibility program initiated by the dealer in 2012. The project is dedicated to broaden the horizons of young artists, and offer them a chance to participate in the list of art shows, the company explained. Under this year’s theme, “Customize your story,” the Dream Gream scho

Mobility Feb. 19, 2019

LS Industrial Systems, a South Korean power and energy solution provider, was named one of the world’s 100 most innovative companies regarding intellectual property rights by Clarivate Analytics, a consulting group formerly owned by Thomson Reuters. The company made the list for the eighth straight year. LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics also made the list.  (LSIS)LSIS was one of the three energy companies along with Exxon Mobil of US and Total of France included in the list of the world’s

Industry Feb. 18, 2019

Hyundai Motor Group has named Ahn Dong-il, a former executive with the steel giant Posco, as president of the R&D and technology development division within its subsidiary Hyundai Steel, the group said in a statement Friday.Ahn is known as a top engineer who served as head of Posco’s two manufacturing bases: one in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, and one in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Ahn Dong-il (Hyundai Steel)His appointment to the role is part of the group’s efforts to improve its co

Industry Feb. 15, 2019

Taking a step closer to the company’s young workforce, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun recently made a surprise video debut -- filming himself test-driving the Nexo, the fuel-cell electric vehicle that the company is betting on as the key to its future growth.In the video, a CEO message addressed to the carmaker’s midlevel employees, Chung drinks coffee and checks his “urgent email” while the vehicle is in self-driving mode.Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Ch

Mobility Feb. 15, 2019

South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors will hire new talents year-round, ditching their conventional recruitment system. Starting this year, the companies will hire new employees by opening job vacancies all year round, the company said on Wednesday in a statement. The new system is seen as an attempt to make changes in its corporate culture, often criticized as hierarchical and monolithic.  (Hyundai Motor)It is aimed at securing young talents capable of leading

Industry Feb. 13, 2019

Posco Daewoo, the trading arm of steel giant Posco, has acquired a 75 percent stake in a grain export terminal held by a Ukrainian logistics firm as part of efforts to bolster its position as a global grain trader, the company said Wednesday.Posco Daewoo has signed a contract with Orexim Group, a logistics firm in Ukraine, entitling the Korean firm to operating rights over the terminal. Orexim will keep the rest of the shares, officials said, while declining to reveal the takeover price, citing

Industry Feb. 13, 2019

Speculation has been circulating that the head of Hanwha Group might return to the management of the nation’s chemical-to-energy giant, as his suspended sentence ordered by the court is nearing its end. The 67-year-old tycoon has kept a low profile for the past seven years. In 2014, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn was sentenced to three years in jail, suspended for five years, for illegally diverting funds from healthy affiliates to weaker companies he owned. Kim’s sentence ends on Feb. 18,

Industry Feb. 12, 2019

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz placed fourth on the list of carmakers’ sales here in January, outselling some with manufacturing bases here.According to industry data, the importer and the distributor of the German carmaker sold 5,796 vehicles last month, accounting for 4 percent of the total 114,632 vehicles sold.  Mercedes-Benz S Class (Mercedes-Benz Korea)The number of vehicles places Mercedes-Benz behind Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and SsangYong Motor. Hyundai and its sister company Kia

Mobility Feb. 11, 2019

Taxis are more than a means of transport for Koreans. They serve as a platform where people talk about life, societal changes and, of course, politics, with those behind the wheel. On top of their cultural and social value, for decades, they have been one of the most reliable and relatively inexpensive door-to-door transport services, offering convenience to people with hectic city lives. These are probably the reasons why taxis and drivers appear frequently in cultural content. (Yonhap)From mov

Mobility Feb. 7, 2019

The United States and North Korea will likely hold their working-level talks on a proposed meeting of their leaders at a joint border village of the two Koreas, informed sources said Saturday.They said the talks may begin as early as Monday."The date and venue of the North Korea-U.S. dialogue have yet to be announced, but Panmunjom seems like the most likely venue for now," a diplomatic source here said. Panmunjeom is seen in the April 26, 2018 file photo. (Yonhap)The working-level dialogue will

North Korea Feb. 2, 2019

A co-director of the South Korean animated film "Underdog," said Saturday that he is disappointed at the weaker-than-expected public attention to his brainchild produced after seven years of painstaking efforts."I just feel distressed. I've realized the high wall of prejudice against Korean feature animations," said Oh Sung-yoon in a telephone conversation with Yonhap News Agency.The film, jointly directed with Lee Chun-baek for a period of seven years, was released Jan. 16 but has so far drawn

Film Feb. 2, 2019

Hyundai Motor’s sports utility vehicle Palisade that debuted late last year has been named Car of the Year by a group of Korean auto journalists, the organization said Wednesday. The vehicle also scored highest marks in the SUV category, the Korea Automobile Journalists Association said in a statement. (Yonhap)The association that comprises 48 newspapers, TV stations and magazines tested 58 vehicles from 21 brands from late last year at three separate test-drive sessions. The Palisade scored 93.

Mobility Jan. 30, 2019